China's Digital Fiat to Substitute Paper Money + 12 More Crypto News

Crypto Briefs is your daily bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – keeping you up-to-date with under the radar crypto news from around the world.

Digital fiats news

China's digital fiat, the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), is designed to substitute existing coins and paper money, which means that holders of the currency would not receive interest payments and there would be no implications for inflation or monetary policy, said Mu Changchun, the head of the central bank's digital currency research institute, according to Reuters. The central bank will first issue the currency to commercial banks and other institutions, who will then resend it to the general public.

A Coinbase executive has said that the private sector should lead the way when it comes to developing America’s digital dollar. In a column published by Fortune, Brian Brooks, the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, wrote, "The United States is the world's leader in technology innovation, but that leadership is provided by the private sector, not by the government."

Adoption news

Charity Oxfam is using a blockchain-based insurance platform to make pay-outs to Sri Lankan farmers who find themselves at risk of losing crops due to adverse weather conditions. Per a press release, Oxfam says it has teamed up with decentralized insurance platform Etherisc and risk services provider Aon to create a microinsurance platform powered by blockchain technology - with 200 farmers in Sri Lanka currently enrolled.

Some 39 major South Korean companies have now signed up for a blockchain ID authentication project, reports SenTV. The group's membership contains a number of commercial banks, and the media outlet states that Samsung's electronics division is likely to join in the near future.

The former South Korean finance minister and prime minister has called on Seoul to strengthen the domestic blockchain industry. Per EDaily, Lee Hun-jai has urged the government not to let South Korean blockchain innovation fall behind, comparing the present situation in the country to "dinosaurs before the Ice Age."

Kevin Weil, Facebook's vice president of product for Calibra has explained that "using Libra will be like sending email." Per CNBC, Weil stated that Libra users would not necessarily have to use Facebook social networking services in order to use Calibra. He also remarked, "This is not going to be a thing that spreads like a social network.”

A Russian artist is winning attention by incorporating crypto mining and blockchain in his art. Per Business Gazeta, the Kazan-based Aristarch Chernyshev has created installation pieces that feature cryptocurrency market data and an Ethereum mining rig.

Regulation news

Australian regulators are the latest to announce they will probe Facebook's Libra plans. Per AAP (via 7 News), regulators met with Facebook executives last month, but were not pleased with what they have heard so far. The regulators believe that Libra poses "many risks and threats" to the country's financial system.

Exchanges news

Binance announced the open-source implementation of a cryptographic protocol for distributed key generation and signing, Threshold Signature Scheme (TSS) library, for Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). As their blog post explains, TSS is now compatible and reusable for ECDSA-based blockchains, including Binance Chain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum networks, and this will enable wallet providers and custodians to avoid single points of failure in private keys with distributed key management.

Separately, Binance announced that CipherTrace will provide traceability support for the Binance Chain public blockchain. In a blog post, Binance says the move will allow it to "provide institutional-grade anti-money laundering (AML) controls and transparency" on Binance Chain.

Bitfinexannounced that, due to the regulatory uncertainty, K.im token sale, and its debut on the Bitfinex Token Sale platform, has been postponed indefinitely. "Both teams have decided the regulatory risks are simply too great for all stakeholders," the exchange said in a Twitter post.

Investment news

Blockchain protocol that offers permanent data storage Arweave announced that it sold USD 5 million worth of tokens in funding over the course of the last six months. The sale was led by the a16z crypto fund, while other investors include Multicoin Capital and Union Square Ventures, now joining the previous investors 1kx and Techstars. The funds will be used to hire developer relations team members and support the project as it increases its marketing and commercialization efforts this autumn.

Ripple’s developer initiative Xpring completed a strategic investment into blockchain network Flare Networks. "The partnership and investment enables the company to further the development of Flare, and brings a wealth of resources and partners to enhance and extend the Flare, Xpring and XRP eco-systems," according to the network's website.